Sunday, June 3, 2012

Bluff City Vegan Eats: Cheffie's Cafe

Who doesn't love a good build-your-own _____ (fill in the blank with sandwich, salad, burrito, etc.) cafe? I like to have things my way. As a vegan, I'm always making special requests wherever I go. But build-your-own diners allow me to make those requests without the guilt. Okay, who am I kidding? I never have guilt about giving servers special vegan instructions! If a restaurant doesn't have anything vegan on the menu, they deserve to have to go out of their way to feed me. But I digress ...

Most build-your-own style eateries are chain restaurants, like Subway, Moe's Southwest Grill, or Chipotle. But Memphis has an independently owned, slightly more upscale such place — Cheffie's Cafe. Located just off the Shelby Farms Greenline, a seven-mile bicycle and pedestrian-only path through East Memphis, Cheffie's caters to cyclists with more than enough bike racks to park an entire bicycle racing team. An adjoining business also sells motorized aerobic cruiser cycles.

Cheffie's has a set menu of salads and sandwiches to choose from, and a few of those are vegan. But you can also build-your-own salad or sandwich from the many, many ingredients on the bar. Unlike with a salad bar, the employee builds your meal (like Subway), so it's not all-you-can-eat. But trust me when I say they're very generous with their ingredients. My parents and I had dinner at Cheffie's last week, and look how big my salad was! It's served in a freakin' mixing bowl, y'all. I held it close to my head for comparison:

And yes, I have a new haircut. It's an asymmetrical 'do. But look at that salad! Here's what's inside:

My name is Bianca ...

About Me

I'm an 11-year vegan, 21-year vegetarian from the Mid-South, not too far from the muddy banks of the Mississippi River. And that means cornbread, butter beans, and collard greens.
These days, I live in Memphis. Check out my cookbook — Cookin' Crunk. It's filled with yummilicious veganized soul food and country classics.